Over the past thirty years, telephony has significantly evolved from the once-ubiquitous public switched telephone service (POTS). Telecommunications consumers today have a wide range of telecommunications options to choose from, including traditional landline telephone service, IP-based telecommunications services (based on, for example, Voice over Internet Protocol), cellular telecommunications services, and converged telecommunications services (such as Unlicensed Mobile Access or UMA).
Telecommunications devices now exist in a myriad of form factors, such as traditional landline phones, cordless phones, cellular telephones, smart phones, PDA phones, desktop and portable computers, media players, home telecommunications hubs, or the like (hereinafter “telecommunication devices”), which have become a ubiquitous part of modern life. Originally, most of these telecommunication devices just provided two-way voice communication between a first person at a first location using a first telecommunication device and a second person at a second location using a second telecommunication device, so that the first person and the second person were able to carry on a conversation. For example, a voice communication or call normally involved real-time, duplex, synchronous voice communications, in which all participants hear the other participants in real time, all participants can simultaneously speak, and all participants are actively engaged and respond directly and immediately to each other without significant interruption.
More recently, telecommunication devices are frequently capable of both voice and data communications, using various modes of such communications. Email, text messages (e.g., Short Message Service or SMS), and multimedia messages (e.g., Multimedia Messaging Service or MMS) are well-known forms of asynchronous data communications. Email was originally used with computers, but is now commonly sent and received through telecommunications devices as well. SMS text messaging has been used for many years in the area of cellular telecommunications. Participants are typically engaged in the communications at different times, and their participation might occur as a number of small, non-contiguous, asynchronous interactions.
In addition to person-to-person communications, many modern telecommunications devices are capable of other types of data communications through access to the Internet and other databases. For example, many telecommunication devices have built-in web browsers for Internet navigation.
Voicemail is another voice communications mode, in which a caller leaves a recorded message for a recipient. The recipient listens and responds to a voicemail message at his or her leisure. Because of the time lag between leaving the message and actually listening or responding to the message, this communications mode is referred to as asynchronous.
It should be noted that both voice and data communications might be implemented using the same wireless and IP-based technologies. In some situations, particularly with conventional cellular or IP-based systems, voice might be communicated using a proprietary cellular protocol, while data and non-voice communications are based on other protocols carried over a cellular and/or an IP-based telecommunications network.
Telecommunications devices vary in complexity and capabilities, from simple devices that support only voice communications, to very sophisticated devices with capabilities of personal computers. Higher-end telecommunication devices are often referred to as smart phones but increasingly include desktop and portable computers. These telecommunication devices typically have an operating system executed from some form of solid-state memory by one or more processors.
Further, advances in technology have added an ever increasing array of features and capabilities to telecommunication devices, such as touch screens, video and still cameras, web browsing capabilities, email sending and receiving capabilities, music download, storing and playback capabilities, calendar and contact managing capabilities, GPS (global positioning system) location and navigation capabilities, game playing capabilities, and streaming media capabilities, to name a few. Many of these features and capabilities are provided through specialized applications resident on the telecommunications devices. For example, many telecommunications devices allow the user to further customize the device through custom configuration options or by adding third-party software. Some of these applications may come pre-installed by the network service provider or manufacturer, while others may be purchased and installed by the users of the telecommunications devices after purchase.
Although modern telecommunications devices are very capable, their complexity sometimes threatens to interfere with their primary purpose of enabling voice communications. Furthermore, the voice functionality of many telecommunications devices is implemented primarily as a stand-alone feature, and often doesn't benefit significantly from the other capabilities of the telecommunications device.
As an example, a telecommunications device user often receives a voice call from an originating caller while actively engaged in an existing call, an instant messaging session, or while engaged in some other activity during which it would be undesirable to engage in a voice call.
Upon receiving such a call, the telecommunications device user has few options. For example, the user can hang up the current or existing caller or the user can answer the incoming call. Alternatively, the user can let the incoming call “ring” until the caller hangs up, or send the incoming call straight to voicemail. The user could also place the existing caller on hold, answer the incoming call, and then switch back to the existing caller. These capabilities are available on many cellular and IP-based telecommunications networks, and do not require any particular customization of the telecommunications device itself.
Caller ID information may be available to the telecommunications device user, indicating calls that were not answered. A caller may also leave a voicemail for the telecommunications device user. However, by the time the telecommunications device user is able to respond to caller ID or voicemail, he or she may have missed a narrow window of opportunity to reach or communicate with the originating caller.
As another example, with the myriad forms of communication that telecommunication devices provide to their users, it can be difficult for users to track their overall frequencies of contact with others, such as persons the users desire to maintain a level of connectivity with. If the telecommunication devices allow the users to examine call logs and message histories, the users can check those logs and histories to see who the users have contacted and when. The users can also check other communication records, such as email inboxes. This imposes a burden on the time and memory of the user, who must remember names and dates and navigate between multiple interfaces.